The Multiplicity of Literary Genres and its Artistic and Cultural Motives: The Book "Memories of Paris" as a Model

Abstract

This research discusses the book ‘Memories of Paris’ as a model of the phenomenon of the multiplicity of literary genres, its artistic and cultural motives, and the extent of the writer’s awareness of it. It aims to explain that phenomenon and compare it with the artistic and cultural reality that surrounded the author. It also seeks to know the role of the literary renaissance in Egypt and the Arab world in embracing this phenomenon and the contribution of Western civilization in developing it, using the descriptive and analytical approach.

It became clear to the researcher that the phenomenon of multiple genres is a global phenomenon that paves the way for the emergence of new genres and threatens others with extinction. The study shows that the Western civilization with which the author came into contact during his stay in Paris had an impact on the intersection of his literary genres and in innovating and launching unconventional methods. The author also maintained the spirit of Arabic methods and their authenticity, especially since his doctoral thesis, ‘Arabic Prose in the Fourth Hijri Century’, is tightly bound to that heritage.

It also became clear to the researcher that the genre of the book was at the beginning “travel literature,” but after that the author used texts from different genres such as poetry, essays, autobiographies of various kinds, and letters, which he mixed in several places. It is also shown that the author employed that diversity of genres in the service of his ideas, and that he, through this book and others, was able to contribute to the emergence of new literary genres.